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April 25, 2021
CORONA VIRUS ISSUE 45
FAMILY NEWS OF
THE CHURCH OF CHRIST ON M 51 S
This is the church bulletin for the congregation of the Church of Christ that meets in Dowagiac, Michigan, on M 51 just south of the city. Ordinarily we meet on Sunday morning for Bible study and worship and also on Sunday evening and Wednesday night for a Bible study. Since the pandemic forced us into not having meetings at our building we have been meeting via Zoom on our smartphones, tablets, and computers. After almost two months of worship under the trees we have moved into the building with our Zoom meetings for those who are not able to meet in person. Everyone is welcome to participate in this worship service at 11:00 on Sunday morning. If you want to participate with Zoom, contact Karl Marcussen at marcusen@michiana.org to get the information to join us. |
DUE to the COVID-19 pandemic
and government mandates we
will not have some
of Bible classes until further notice.
FAMILY NEWS
OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST ON M 51 S
APRIL 25, 2021
This bulletin is distributed in a variety of different ways. It is distributed during our worship services at the church building; it is made available on the web at our dowagiaccoc.org website; and it is sent by e-mail/messaging in connection with our Zoom broadcast invitations. However you receive it, we hope it will be informative and encouraging. We are not a denomination, but a local effort to encourage people to follow what the church was like in the first century. We have no man-made creed and only follow the Bible. We do not have religious titles and do not solicit donations. Come and learn more by visiting with us, e-mailing us, or calling us.
Remember: The FOOD BANK TRUCK unloading will be in our parking lot on April 27 at 4:00 P.M. That is an outside activity and we need all hands on board. Please plan to help. Show up around 3:00 so that you can get involved. People start arriving hours before the truck arrives.
Remember our Wednesday night class on the history of Israel. This is a careful study taught by Richard Hoyt. This is a great learning opportunity and our Zoom set up has been working well. Contact Karl if you need help.
REFLECTING ON HIGHWAY CLEANUP: Our cleanup on April 17 was hard. We got it done, but we worked until after 1:00 P.M and we had some people hurting physically because of the amount of work that had to be done. One solution is to drop that project, but that is a really bad message to give to the community. I would suggest that we need to change the way we do it. Richard should not be bearing the load. Maybe we should assign sections of the highway to be done during the week instead of a one day effort. Do some thinking about what we should do and let us not put all the work on a few people at a specific Saturday. Let us talk about what we should do.
TODAY'S LESSON
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John Clayton |
I. INTRODUCTION — Scripture is full of reversals.
A. Today's reversal is a religious guy and a sinner.
1. Pharisee — religious man following all the rules
2. Tax collector (publican) — hated sinner
II. RELIGIOUS GUY PUT DOWN THE SINNER.
A. Romans 2:17-24 — The challenge we all face
1. “I'd rather see a sermon than hear one.”
2. Hypocrisy has turned off the world.
B. Matthew 5:14-16 — What our goal should be.
What do we do that is “light?”
C. Luke 18:9 — The message of Jesus' parable
There is no room for arrogance with God.
D. Luke 18:11 — He prayed ABOUT himself.
Does doing everything “right” get us to heaven?
E. He did not see his deep need for God.
1. Contrast with the woman of Luke 7:37-50
a. She stood behind Jesus weeping over her sin.
b. She expressed her love & humility (Luke 7:38).
c. Her actions were based on love (Luke 7:47).
2. Do we understand our deepest problems and God?
F. The religious guy was “keeping score”:
1. Giving 10%, never missing service, fasting, comparing to others
2. Why do each of us come to “church”?
III. THE TAX COLLECTOR — Luke 18:13
A. He stood afar off — (Luke 18:10) the temple was where God was — the place of worship.
1. Did not feel worthy of entering “God's house.”
2. The church is a hospital, not a sacred temple.
B. He would not lift his eyes to heaven.
A reflection of humbleness and contriteness.
C. “Smote his breast” — Middle East act of sorrow.
D. Confessed his condition to God.
IV. SO WHAT IS THE CONNECTION TO US?
A. Philippians 2:5-8 — Humility — Root word is humus.
1. Gardener analogy — humus is needed for growth.
2. Back to Luke 18:9
The song after the lesson: “ Savior, Lead Me.”)
THE BACK PAGE
WHY STUDY THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL?
Our Wednesday night class taught by Richard Hoyt is a detailed discussion of the history of Israel. Why should we study the history of Israel? The first reason is that we can glean lessons from how God's people handled the struggles of life both correctly and incorrectly. Last Sunday we looked at David's experience with Shimei and how David handled resentment, and we can learn much by seeing that kind of experience and how it was handled by “a man after God's own heart.”
Another major reason to understand the history is to understand the world into which Jesus came and in which the early Church of Christ had to function. Why was Israel under Roman control? Who were the Hellenistic Jews? Why are most of the original documents of the church in Greek? What was the significance of Jerusalem? Why was Caesarea so important in Jesus' day?
In addition to understanding these things, it is essential for us to understand the Old Testament to understand much of what is referred to in the New Testament. Why were Moses and Elijah present at the transfiguration? Who were the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Scribes? Why did the Jews hate the Samaritans (see John 4:9)?
It is also important to understand the difference between the Christian system and the Mosaic system of life. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is radically different than the teachings of Jesus. When we read the Old Testament accounts of war and violence we shudder and are thankful we did not live during that time. Women were especially vulnerable under the Mosaic system, and Christ gave women status that changed them from being possessions to being equal players in the affairs of life.
You cannot fully understand how Christ changed the world until you understand at least some of the history of God's people. Richard has spent a lot of time working out the details of the Old Testament, and we all profit from his study and hard work. Thank you, Richard.
— John Clayton
Our sign by the street!
Scripture links/references are from BibleGateway.com. Unhighlighted scriptures can be looked up at their website.
www.dowagiaccoc.org
04/20/2021
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